1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automated warehouse inloading/outloading controller which automatically stores or removes a plurality of goods from a warehouse, and more particularly, to a warehouse inloading/outloading controller wherein storage efficiency is increased by storing and removing pallets accommodating a plurality of goods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An automated warehouse is a warehouse wherein goods are automatically stored in and removed from the warehouse. In such an automated warehouse, the type, quantity and location of goods transiently stored in the warehouse is normally recorded in a data base, and the warehouse is managed by making use of this data base.
FIG. 1 shows the interior of a typical automated warehouse. A rack 14 housing pallets 13 is installed in the warehouse 11. Goods are accommodated in these pallets 13, and are outloaded from the warehouse 11 by removing the pallets. The outloaded goods are then delivered to various locations outside the warehouse.
The same types of goods are usually contained in the pallets 13. When goods are to be outloaded, a pallet 13 is withdrawn from the rack 14 by a stacker crane 15, and placed on a receiving platform 16. The pallet 13 is then transported outside the warehouse 11 on this platform 16, the goods are removed from the pallet 13, and delivered to various locations outside the warehouse. The operations of searching for a pallet 13 containing goods to be delivered (referred to hereafter as specified goods), and of moving the stacker crane 15 to this pallet, are managed entirely according to the aforesaid data base.
In this type of automated warehouse, the aim has constantly been to increase storage efficiency, and speed up delivery or warehousing of goods. However, due to the practice of housing the same type of goods in one pallet, some pallets were always full while others were practically empty, and the storage efficiency of the warehouse as a whole decreases. Improvements of data base search methods were also desirable so that removal of goods from and storage of goods in the warehouse 11 could be conducted in a timely manner.